Friday, September 21, 2001
Cubs turn sights to wild card
By JOE KAY
AP Sports Writer
Seven games down, 17 games left. The Chicago Cubs know they've got a lot of ground to make up — and little time to do it — in order to win the NL Central.
A three-game series this weekend in Houston will either revive their fading hopes of a division title or leave them focused solely on the wild card race.
They seemed to be thinking more about the wild card Thursday after holding on for a win that was less encouraging than it could have been. Fred McGriff hit a three-run homer in his return from a strained hamstring as the Cubs got ahead by six runs, then held off the Reds in the ninth for a 6-5 win.
Jason Bere (11-9) pitched seven shutout innings, but the Cubs' weakened bullpen nearly imploded in the ninth. Adam Dunn and Wilton Guerrero homered before Jeff Fassero struck out Ken Griffey Jr. to end it.
As the Cubs headed for a three-game series against the first-place Astros, the team they trail by seven games, they were trying not to put too much emphasis on the weekend.
“We're not looking at it like, "It's Houston, now we've got to turn it up,”' Bere said.
They'd better. They have seven games left with the Astros and need to win nearly all of them to have a chance for the division title.
Manager Don Baylor practically admitted it's a long shot. The third-place Cubs have a much better chance to win the wild card — they're also in third in that race, but trail St. Louis by only 2 1/2 games.
“We've got to be realistic,” Baylor said. “We're running out of games to do things. Win the division? We just have to win a series, start there and maybe get something rolling, win seven of eight.”
They took two of three from the Reds, but clearly weren't on a roll when they left town. Closer Tom Gordon is sidelined by a sore elbow and McGriff is still hobbled by a sore left hamstring.
The bullpen was a particular problem in the series. It blew a ninth-inning lead in the opener, which the Reds won 6-5. Kerry Wood allowed only two hits in seven innings as the Cubs won the second game 10-0, and Bere put them within reach of another shutout with a strong performance.
“Where we are right now, it doesn't matter how you win,” Sammy Sosa said. “We don't have a lot of time left.”
Cubs Notes: McGriff has 25 homers overall this season with Chicago and Tampa Bay. The latest was his 442nd, matching former Cubs player Dave Kingman for 25th on the career list. ... The Cubs are 18-23 since Aug. 1.
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Cubs turn sights to wild card
